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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26230933">Haunted Castle</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeckofDragons/pseuds/DeckofDragons'>DeckofDragons</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Halloween 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Luigi's Mansion (Video Games), Super Mario Bros. (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Luigi babysitting Bowser Jr. and hunting ghosts at the same time, Luigi is once again dragged into hunting ghosts, Poor guy can't get much of a break, it's E. Gadd's fault for not being able to contain King Boo for long though, mild violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 11:14:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>17,904</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26230933</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeckofDragons/pseuds/DeckofDragons</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>King Boo is up to his shenanigans again, this time targeting Bowser's castle. Bowser Jr. is the only one who gets away. He goes to Luigi for help.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Gooigi &amp; Luigi (Luigi's Mansion), Luigi &amp; Bowser Jr.</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Halloween 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946983</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>136</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Doorbell</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I don't remember what sparked the idea but basically this fic is based off an idea I had for what might be a cool spinoff or something in the Luigi's Mansion series. We see Bowser as a almost good guy sometimes so I think it'd be neat for him to be the person being saved for once. It's never going to happen of course but I still think it'd be neat.</p><p>This was supposed to be a quick drabble just setting up the idea, mostly just as a way to sharing the idea, but then it became 2k words long. It's still just the setup for now but I might continue it, I haven't decided yet.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It started with just the doorbell ringing. It set Polterpup off into a fit of excited barking but Luigi ignored it. He wasn’t excepting anyone and therefore it couldn’t be anyone he wanted to talk to. But then after maybe a minute, it rang again, quickly follow by another a few seconds later before whoever it was descended into just spamming it.</p><p>With a sigh, Luigi put aside his book and careful to avoid being visible through the front window, snuck over to the door. Peeking through the peephole he saw… nothing. But the bell was still going off and Polterpup was going absolutely mad about it. Before he could pull away to attempt to stealthily peek through the window…</p><p>“I know you’re in there. I can hear your dog barking. If you don’t let me in, I’m going to bust through your window.”  It was muffled by the door but it was still distinctly the voice of a child. It was also familiar, Luigi had heard it multiple times before, though he couldn’t quite place where right now.</p><p>With that in mind and not wanting to deal with a child trying to bust through his window, Luigi put a hand on Polterpup’s head to finally calm him before answering the door at last. … Bowser Jr. was on the other side, one clawed hand still raised, pressing the doorbell.</p><p>“Finally,” he said as he pulled his arms in to cross them over his bandana, puffing out his chest while he did so. “About darn time. Now uh… uh…” he faltered deflating a little before with a growl he kind of just invited himself in, striding into the middle of Luigi’s living room as if he owned the place.</p><p>There wasn’t much Luigi could do to stop him short of using physical force which he didn’t want to do if he didn’t have to. So with a sigh, he closed the front door and turned to face the intruder. “What do you want?”</p><p>Whatever it was, he clearly hadn’t planned what he was going to say before getting here as he looked off to the side in silent thought for a few seconds. In the hallway behind him, Gooigi stepped out into the living room. They stayed silent though so Luigi let them be.</p><p>“King Boo took over Papa’s castle,” Bowser Jr. finally said, regaining his confidence as he looked back at Luigi. “And you’re going come with me to take it back and beat him up.”</p><p>Luigi was shaking his head ‘no’ before Bowser Jr. even finished speaking. He even shook his hands ‘no’ for more emphasis. “No, no, no. I don’t do ghosts.” They were scary and he was <em>done</em> with scary things. He was going to have to call up E. Gadd later and scold him for losing King Boo <em>again</em>. … Assuming he had, this being Bowser Jr. meant it could theoretically be a trap.</p><p>Bowser Jr. frowned at him. “You’re a ghost hunter though. You’ve beat up King Boo <em>three</em> times now. Also, I didn’t ask, I said you’re going to and so you are.”</p><p>“No!” Luigi was proud of the amount of force he was able to put into it. He was done with scary things and he was <em>not</em> going to take orders like that. “Ask someone else.”</p><p>Bowser Jr. faltered again, his shoulders sagging a little as he made a visible effort to maintain a confident demeanor. “But… you’re the only ghost hunter in either this kingdom or my dad’s. So….” he growled, balling his hands into fists at his sides, “you <em>can’t</em> say ‘no’.”</p><p>Luigi crossed his arms and turned his head away. “I’m sure that’s not true.” There was no way, right? He knew from experience that it was a rather lucrative endeavor so people who weren’t scared of ghost and wanted to make some good mood should flock to it. “You can ask E. Gadd. He’s not really a ghost hunter, he just studies them. But I’m sure he knows some ghost hunters you could ask. I can even call him for you.”  Luigi wasn’t a heartless monster so there was no way he could send Bowser Jr. away completely and he needed to call up E. Gadd anyway. Before he could pull out his phone to do so though…</p><p>“E. Gadd’s <em>obviously</em> the first place I went. He’s the one who told me to go to you because you’re supposed to be the best and only ghost hunter left alive. He even gave me your address. So you have to do it because… you just have to, okay?”</p><p>Luigi <em>refused</em> to believe he was the ‘only ghost hunger left alive’ because that meant the profession – if it could be called that – was even <em>more</em> dangerous than he’d thought. Just thinking about it made him want to go even <em>less.</em> “I can’t.”</p><p>The last of Bowser Jr.’s confidence vanished. “But… but… what am I supposed to do then? He turned Dad and Kamek and all my siblings and… <em>everyone</em> into paintings! I only got away because I hid in the closet like a stupid coward because Dad told me to.”</p><p>And now Luigi felt bad, <em>great</em>. He maybe shouldn’t feel bad for someone who was technically an enemy but regardless of anything else Bowser Jr. was a kid who’d witnessed his entire family and probably everyone he’d ever really known get turned into paintings by King Boo. Given those circumstances, it was hard not to feel bad for him and maybe even a little tempted to help him. But… Luigi had already said ‘no’ and he didn’t like ghosts.</p><p>He looked back over at Gooigi, still standing in the hall watching. They nodded and gave him a thumbs up. What did that mean in this context? Were they telling him to say ‘yes’ to Bowser Jr.’s ask for help? Or were they approving his ‘no’?</p><p>“Let me have you ghost hunting stuff then.” Bowser Jr. stomped his foot and squared up his shoulders as he looked up at Luigi. “I don’t need you, I can just do it myself.</p><p>If he wasn’t a child, Luigi probably would’ve handed over the Poltergust and all its attachments with little argument – who was he to stand in the way of someone else catching ghosts, especially in a situation like that? But villainous Bowser’s child or not, he was still just a kid and sending a kid off to fight a castle full of ghosts, boos, and King Boo himself all on his own was just wrong. … And sending him off to look for another ghost hunter when neither of them knew where to even start looking for one was less than ideal as well.</p><p>Maybe he could send him off with Gooigi. But could Gooigi handle everything on their own? They were so fragile and their weakness being liquid, made them easy to defeat. An inch-deep puddle of water that couldn’t be navigated around or over would be enough to make it impossible for them to be of any help to anyone. Which meant Bowser Jr. would have to be helping them potentially the whole way which was still asking a kid to run around in a castle full of ghosts and boos, most likely culminating in a fight against King Boo himself.</p><p>Oh dear, Luigi’s conscious wasn’t going to let him out of this, was it? … Darn it! Why’d E. Gadd have to go and lose King Boo <em>again</em>? One would think he’d <em>learn</em> from King Boo’s prior escapes resulting in Luigi having to deal with him again. And <em>speaking</em> of that, he was going to go after Mario and Luigi again for sure because he was <em>not</em> the type to let a grudge go. <em>So</em> to protect Mario <em>before</em> he got turned into a painting again and to probably protect himself from a trap later down the line as well, Luigi should go take care of King Boo now when King Boo shouldn’t be expecting him, increasing his chances at another victory. It was the smart thing to do but… Luigi <em>really</em> didn’t want to.</p><p>It was <em>so unfair</em>. He just wanted to be done with ghosts and other scary things for forever. Wasn’t facing his worst fear three times more than enough? And… and… he wanted to stick to his guns. He’d already said ‘no’. … Maybe instead he could send Gooigi and someone else, like Mario. Yeah sure, Mario didn’t have any real experience in dealing with proper hauntings or in using ghost hunting equipment but he could learn, right? So that would maybe probably be fine?</p><p>“Let’s a-go!”</p><p>Luigi looked up to see that Gooigi had apparently left to retrieve the Poltergust from their room which they now carried in front of him. Any question about what their intention might be was erased as the beelined for Luigi with it.</p><p>“What is <em>that</em>?” Bowser Jr. asked, taking a step back as Gooigi passed by him.</p><p>“Gooigi!” Gooigi introduced themself, twisting their head to look at him in a way that would’ve been unnatural if they weren’t made of goo. Their head snapped back into proper orientation as they reached Luigi. “Let’s a-go.”</p><p>“You want us to help him, don’t you?” Luigi asked as if there were actually any question to it.</p><p>Gooigi nodded. Of course they did, they’d been brought into existence for the sole purpose of hunting ghosts so it would’ve been odd if they hadn’t wanted to help someone who came to them with his ghost problem.</p><p>“You can go. You don’t need me, right? You can ask Mario to go with you to make sure you don’t get into any trouble with water or anything.” And that way Luigi could stay home and <em>not</em> deal with a bunch of ghosts.</p><p>Expressionless as always, Gooigi didn’t reply. Instead, they walked around behind him and… pushed the Poltergust to his back. They held it there with one hand as they used their other to maneuver Luigi’s arms into the straps. He could’ve resisted but didn’t because this wasn’t a battle he could win, was it? His conscious, logic, <em>and</em> Gooigi trying to get him to do it made it hard to stick to his ‘no’. Which was not fair <em>at all</em> but there was nothing he could do about it.</p><p>“Let’s a-go,” Gooigi said again when they were done, looking at Bowser Jr.</p><p>“Uh… what’s going on?” he asked, understandably a bit confused. “Are you two going to help me save my dad now?”</p><p>Gooigi nodded and pointed to the door.</p><p>“Sweet! Let’s go!” With a grin that made him look even more like his father and namesake, Bowser Jr. hopped into motion, heading for the door. Gooigi followed, tugging on Luigi’s wrist to get him to come along too. And the final nail in the coffin was an excited bark from Polterpup before he grabbed at Luigi’s pantleg to pull him along in the right direction.</p><p>Outside on the front lawn was Bowser Jr’s flying clown car. It was a squeeze but the three of them plus Polterpup managed to get into it. The squeeze lessened a bit when Gooigi went back up into the Poltergust’s tank on Luigi’s back.</p><p>“Uh… that’s weird,” Bowser Jr. said. “It looks kind of like you but … what is it?”</p><p>Luigi sighed. “They’re name is Gooigi. E. Gadd made them to help me hunt ghosts. They’re made of goo and melt when wet.”</p><p>“Um… okay. You like for reals going to help me save my dad now though?”</p><p>“Yes.” Luigi still would rather not but he wasn’t being given much of a choice. It wasn’t like he hadn’t dealt with hordes of ghosts before though so hopefully he could get this over with fast and maybe convince E. Gadd to get some tighter security protocols on King Boo to hopefully keep him contained this time.</p><p>“Awesome!” Bowser Jr. said as he started up the clown car. With the added weight its ascent was a bit more sluggish and unsure than it probably should’ve been but once they got up in the air, there seemed to be little issue as he turned them towards in the direction Bowser’s castle presumably lay in.</p><p>“And uh… thank you,” he added with an awkward grin as he looked back at Luigi. Well at least he was being openly grateful now. Bowser and company better be grateful too otherwise Luigi was going to be real mad at them. He’ll have earned the right for some gratitude after this.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Castle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Happy first day of Halloween!</p><p>First off, I have not actually finished this fic yet, which is not normally how I roll when uploading fics. But I want to release it over the course of Halloween month, putting the final chapter up on Halloween itself, so it should be fine. Second, I gloss over parts of this fic, not doing any real fight scenes; it plays out the way it would it would in game so it's not really necessary to write out. I also tried to come up with at least one cool boss ghost idea in a future chapter because the boss ghosts are always really cool in the games, but I couldn't really come up with one so unless something changes that's not happening either. I have a neat idea for a finale that would make up for it though I think but again I haven't written it yet so I don't know how it's going to turn out. So wish me luck on that as well as on just finishing this fic before the end of Halloween in general. :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You with Bowser Jr.?” was E. Gadd’s greeting as soon he answered Luigi’s call.</p><p>“Yes,” Luigi said with a sigh as he shifted to try to make himself more comfortable. Sitting with the Poltergust on his lap – Polterpup sat atop it, tongue hanging out as he enjoyed the air rushing by – and crammed in next to a small but spikey child made it a vain effort. The clown car was far too small but… sitting was still better than standing when it was so high in the air.</p><p>“Good! I knew he’d be able to convince you help him.  I’m on my way to Bowser’s castle myself. Since you’re flying, or at least I assume you’re taking Junior’s clown car since it’s faster, you’ll probably arrive before me so try not to clear everything up before I arrive, okay?” He chuckled, not at all bothered by this situation.</p><p>“Look, we need to talk about your efforts to contain King Boo. I can’t keep recapturing him for you.” Luigi had had enough of that by now especially since the more times it happened the higher the chance King Boo find a way to win.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, I know, he got out again. It wasn’t my fault this time though, some of his boos broke him out when I wasn’t paying attention.” Did it not occur to him that he should’ve expected something like that and been prepared to prevent it? If it was possible to keep boos locked up then surely it was possible to keep them out as well, right? “It’ll be fine though, I’m sure you can handle him. What do you think his plan is though? He went straight for Bowser’s castle this time, thoroughly took over the place too according to Junior. There’s no way he’s forgotten about us though, I’m sure his got more up his sleeve than this. But <em>what</em>?” He sounded almost excited to find out.</p><p>Luigi hadn’t needed the reminder that King Boo would be coming for him sooner or later. “After I capture him this time you better keep him contained.” He forced anger into his voice in an attempt to hide his fear. After this he was done with hunting ghosts for forever. … That’s what he’d told himself <em>last</em> time though and well, here he was on his way to do just that. He <em>meant</em> it this time though, he’d had enough and he was putting his foot down.</p><p>“Don’t worry sonny, this time he won’t get out for sure.” He sounded so sure but he always did so it didn’t inspire much confidence. “But anyway, I got to drive, see you up at Bowser’s castle in a few hours.” He hung up.</p><p>With another sigh, Luigi hung up too. He was tempted to pull himself up to peek over the edge to get a lay of the land and maybe an idea of where they were and how far they were from their destination. But even thinking about it gave him a slight sense of vertigo so he stayed down.</p><p>“You know for a professional ghost hunter you seem awfully scared of everything,” Bowser Jr. said, looking at him with a slight frown.</p><p>Luigi could only shrug. “Ghosts are scary.” And while heights weren’t a particular fear of his, being this high up in something that felt so unstable was thoroughly unpleasant.</p><p>“Hmm… I guess I can’t argue with that. Still though, I don’t see how <em>you</em> managed to beat up King Boo and all his lackies three whole times. With the way you’ve been acting, I’d have thought you would’ve chickened out.”</p><p>Luigi shrugged again. “Had to save my bro.”</p><p>That earned a concerned look. What exactly Bowser Jr. was concerned about was unclear though and he didn’t say anything about it, turning his attention back to his flying instead.</p><p> </p><p>Hidden low in the clown car, Luigi wasn’t aware of how close they were until Bowser Jr. suddenly started lowering it. “I want to approach lower to the ground to so we don’t get spotted,” he said by way of explanation as Luigi sat up to peek over the edge.</p><p>They were indeed in Bowser’s Kingdom now, the familiar shape of Bowser’s castle still a decent distance away but plainly visible from so high up. It wasn’t quite as visible as it should’ve been though because it was dark, not a light to be seen anywhere on it. Luigi had only seen it a few times but every single time he had, there’d been lights in all the windows and fires in signal towers that made up part of the protective wall surrounding it. That at least confirmed Bowser Jr. was telling the truth about what happened. Not that there’d been much doubt, Bowser wouldn’t want to lay a trap for Luigi, especially since he was one of many people who didn’t even remember Luigi’s name most of the time.</p><p>It wasn’t much longer before they landed. Polterpup jumped out first with an excited bark. Bowser Jr. climbed out with the ease of someone who’d done so a million times before. Leaving Luigi to stiffly and awkwardly stand up before climbing out with exaggerated care lest he stumble and fall.</p><p>As soon as his feet were on the ground, Polterpup barked and did a quick run around his legs, almost making him fall over anyway, before dashing off too fast to see where he was headed. There was no easy way to call him back so hopefully he wouldn’t give away their presence by being seen or caught by a boo. Instead, Luigi hefted the Poltergust onto his back, pressing the button on the flashlight that decanted Gooigi as soon as it was in his hand.</p><p>Then, stepping away from the clown car on only slightly shaky legs, he glanced around at their surroundings. Bowser Jr. had parked them at the rear of the castle, within its border walls. It was a large open space that seemed to mostly training yard with a landing pad off to the side where they were. Bowser’s Castle loomed over them and… already Luigi could sense it was crawling with ghosts. It might’ve just been his imagination but after taking care of three whole full-scale hauntings he was pretty sure he had a feel for these things by now. And with that in mind he very much did not want to go in.</p><p>But alas, he was already here and Bowser Jr. was already headed for the small door leading into the castle and Gooigi was already following him and Polterpup had already run off to explore. And none of that left Luigi with any choice whatsoever on top everything that had convinced him to come in the first place. So holding back a groan of fear, he jogged to catch up with Bowser Jr. and Gooigi.</p><p>“I finally figured out what Gooigi reminds me of,” Bowser Jr. said as soon as he did so. “They look kind of like my old Shadow Mario disguise except shaped like you and green.”</p><p>“Um… okay.” Luigi had heard something about that from Mario, not much though because Mario’s main focus was telling him that Bowser had a son who thought Peach was his mother. Whether or not Bowser Jr. still believed that was unknown and now probably wasn’t the time to ask. Luigi was too busy already being afraid even before seeing a single ghost.</p><p>“Are you sure you can handle this?” Bowser Jr. asked as they reached the door and stopped so he could pull out a key for it.</p><p>Luigi shrugged. “I’ve done it before.” What was one more time really?</p><p>“Well, E. Gadd said you’re the best and he’s an expert so I trust him and it’s not like I have any other options so… I guess let’s go. Don’t mess this up though or you’ll regret it.” Pocketing the key once more, he opened the door. “You go in first, I’ll follow behind.”</p><p> Gooigi of course went in without hesitation. Luigi would’ve followed but… “You should wait out here or fly up in the car until E. Gadd arrives and then wait in his lab with him.”</p><p>“Uh… no. I’m not a coward who’s going to just sit out here and wait for you to do everything. And don’t go calling me one because I ran away. I only did that because I couldn’t win by myself so I went to get help. It’s smart, <em>not</em> cowardly, okay?” Hands balled into fists he glared up at Luigi as if daring him to call him a coward. Luigi would be a hypocrite to accuse him of such when he was the one who was a coward. Running away had been the right move and as far as Luigi was concerned Bowser Jr. wasn’t a coward for doing so but he was a kid so…</p><p>“It’s dangerous.” Which was a large part of why Luigi had come was because he couldn’t in good conscious let a kid run around in a castle full of ghosts. “You wouldn’t be a coward for staying…”</p><p>“I know it’s dangerous,” Bowser Jr. interrupted. “And I don’t care. I can take care of myself <em>and</em> I can help you guys because I know the castle layout and all of its secret passages.”</p><p>“But…”</p><p>“<em>Also</em>, it’s my dad and my siblings and my people that King Boo turned into portraits, I have to help them. So I’m going with you whether you like it or not. Now get your butt in there and start hunting ghosts.” He stamped his foot on the ground and pointed into the open doorway.</p><p>Luigi couldn’t exactly argue with that so… in he went. And Bowser Jr. followed, pulling the door closed with him.</p><p>“All good?” Gooigi asked. They’d been waiting right by the door.</p><p>No, but Luigi said, “I guess,” anyway. “Let’s get this over with fast, okay?”</p><p>They gave him a thumbs up before snapping around to face the rest of the room. It was a dark hallway, pitch black outside of the range or their flashlights. And there was definitely at least one ghost nearby somewhere, hiding and probably waiting to jump out and scare the three of them. …</p><p>Could Luigi really do this? He didn’t have his brother needing to be saved to motivate him this time so could he really force himself through this again? … Yes! Yes, he could! It was the <em>fourth</em> time so he wasn’t going to be afraid this time.</p><p>Squaring up his shoulders, he took a deep breath and strode forward, taking the lead. He could handle this, he’d done it before, it was fine. He’d defeat King Boo again and then…</p><p>A ghost burst out of the wall to his left, getting right up in his face, to stick out its tongue and blow a raspberry at him. He jumped back with a scream, quickly backpedaling away as he dropped his flashlight.</p><p>Gooigi, unphased as always, flashed it, stunning it, giving Luigi time to recover as they started vacuuming it. Its struggles came to a swift end when as soon as they had a good grip on it, Gooigi slammed it to ground. A few more slams and the fight, if it could even be called that, was over. A very tame ghost encounter over all but… Bowser Jr. was still laughing and even pointing at Luigi.</p><p>“It’s not funny,” he said, unable to keep himself from sounding a little grumpy.</p><p>“Nah, it’s hilarious! You should’ve heard the sound you made, it was…” Another ghost popped out of the wall next to him, tackling him and making him cut off with his own undignified yelp of surprise and fear.</p><p>Luigi flinched and jumped back too but… it was just Polterpup. “Good puppy,” he said as Polterpup ran over with a bark for a well-deserved pet.</p><p>Bowser Jr. stood back up, brushing himself off with an embarrassed look. He was a kid though so Luigi wasn’t going to laugh at him back, though it didn’t stop him from giving him a slight smirk before turning his attention back to Polterpup.</p><p>Maybe despite this being the fourth time, he was still afraid but with Gooigi and Polterpup by his side he would be fine. He <em>could</em> handle this even if it wouldn’t be pleasant or fun in any way and he’d do it because bad guys or not, it was the right thing to do.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Rhythm</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The castle was dark enough that Luigi soon gave Bowser Jr. the spare flash light for some added illumination and so he could stun ghosts if needed. It meant if the one currently attached the Poltergust malfunctioned or broke, there could be some issues. It was unlikely though, the Poltergust had come a long way from that first shoddily built repurposed vacuum E. Gadd had given him for his unwanted debut as a ghost hunter. And he could always take the flashlight back if it did, not to mention Gooigi’s flashlight couldn’t break because it was part of them so it would probably be fine. And besides the added light made it easier for him to vacuum and tidy up as they started exploring the castle properly.</p>
<p>“Are you two really… cleaning right now?” Bowser Jr. finally asked after longer than expected.</p>
<p>“Yes,” Luigi replied not looking up. After taking out the three ghosts in the room, he’d taken to tidying one side of the room – probably – sleeping quarters for Bowser’s minions based off the bunkbeds evenly spaced out that filled the room – while Gooigi took the other side. They’d learned from him so naturally they did what he did while ghost hunting even if they might not know exactly why Luigi did things this way. But regardless the two of them made a good team and had coordinated wordlessly on this.</p>
<p>“<em>Why</em>?” Unsurprisingly Bowser Jr. was not very happy.</p>
<p>The main reason was because it eased Luigi’s nerves to tidy up a little as he went, making the spooky place slightly more bearable though it did serve a practical purpose too even if he’d rather it didn’t. “It brings out any ghosts that are hiding. King Boo shouldn’t be expecting us so we don’t want to be seen and have our presence reported back to him.” And the room was a mess, cleaning it up a little was relaxing. Also, ghosts liked to hide money and precious gemstones in things, so Luigi could justify it from that angle too even if he didn’t need the money. So far neither he nor Gooigi had found much but if needed he could still use it as another excuse to justify his actions without anyone trying to tell him that it was a waste of time because he needed this. Saving Bowser and company was important but he couldn’t do that if he was one bad scare away from having a panic attack.</p>
<p>“Um… okay then, I guess that makes sense, sort of anyway.” Good, Bowser Jr. was dropping it. He even adjusted his flashlight to help illuminate the room better. “Why are we even stopping here though? We need to rescue my dad and… everyone else and they’re clearly not here.”</p>
<p>Checking every room was another one of those things that just made Luigi feel better. Knowing what was in every room meant no surprises and lessened the chances of a ghost coming up behind him that had been hiding in an unchecked room. Bowser Jr. had come to <em>him</em> for help and he was going to do things his way. “Got to root out all the ghosts. They could sneak up on us otherwise or go tell King Boo we’re here. <em>Also</em>, King Boo likes to leave his paintings in various places for decoration.” Though it was often guarded by a big strong ghost, dealing with them always sucked. “So we should look around for them.” He didn’t like it but he’d proven himself capable of handling said big strong ghosts. … He really was a professional ghost hunter at this point, huh? He knew what he was doing and had a system for it that worked. Now if only he wasn’t afraid of ghosts, then it’d be a viable career path.</p>
<p>“Well… you’re the expert so, okay. Hurry up though.”</p>
<p>That only made Luigi want to take longer but… he wouldn’t do that. He wanted this to be over with sooner rather than later and even if it wasn’t his brother he was rescuing this time it was still an important rescue mission. So having not found any ghosts or anything else, they quickly moved on.</p>
<p>The next room, another midsized room filled with bunkbeds, they checked had another small group of low tier ghosts loitering within and a couple more hiding in various places; scary but quick and easy to handle. Bowser Jr. as promised, hung back and stayed safe out of the way, letting Luigi and Gooigi take care of it. Having him along still wasn’t ideal but at least he wasn’t going to get in the way or do anything more dangerous than just coming along was. … Which honestly was more than could be said of some of the Toads Luigi had had to escort to safety during his previous ghost busting ‘adventures’.</p>
<p>After that, Luigi quickly fell into the rhythm of going through, checking everything, and sucking up any ghosts that showed up or popped out of things – money too because it was there so he might as well. So far there was nothing new and thus now that he was in the thick of it, he was about as fine as he could be in this situation. Gooigi being there the whole time and Polterpup popping in every so often helped a lot too. Heck Bowser Jr.’s company and not wanting to embarrass himself in front him lest he get laughed at again helped a little as well. He <em>almost</em> maybe didn’t need to do the normal cleaning routine to ease his fears but he did anyway because it was familiar and rooting out hidden ghosts was a good thing no matter what.</p>
<p>Eventually Bowser Jr. broke his rhythm though. “Up ahead a little is a closet to the right.” he said after a long period of silence, making Luigi jump a little before turning to look at him. “In it is a secret passage that leads to the basement. Which is where Kamek’s lab is. From there are more secret passages and stuff which will let us quickly access my dad’s room which is where King Boo defeated him and turned him into a painting. I don’t know if the painting Papa’s trapped in is still there but we can check, right?”</p>
<p>Luigi would’ve preferred to keep going on his level, they seemed to be exiting the barracks part of the castle, and clearing it out entirely before ascending to a new floor. But also, Bowser being the biggest prize gained from this venture meant King Boo most likely kept his painting close by which meant if they found it, they’d find King Boo.  It wasn’t an encounter Luigi was looking forward to but defeating King Boo would end the adventure and the sooner that was done, the better. It was unlikely King Boo’s portrait would still be there but… “I suppose it doesn’t hurt to look.”</p>
<p>With no further words needing to be spoken, they resumed going down the hallway. And soon there was indeed a door to the right. Inside was a broom, a bucket, a dustpan, and a single bottle of a cleaning spray with its label partially peeled off. There wasn’t a single thing about the tiny space itself or any of its contents that implied that there was anything secret hidden in it. Luigi <em>almost</em> didn’t believe it because normally when he found a hidden thing, there was something about the area that seemed off. This just seemed like a forgotten closet.</p>
<p>Bowser Jr. strode inside and gestured for Luigi and Gooigi to join him. It was a bit small but they all fit reasonably well. If Gooigi was bothered by being squished into the door a little, they didn’t show it.</p>
<p>“Don’t watch,” Bowser Jr. said, facing the rare wall. “You don’t need to know all of the castle’s secrets.”</p>
<p>Luigi didn’t bother arguing and just looked away. Gooigi, ever compliant, did so too. There were a few seconds of silence followed by a click and then the sound of stone moving. Luigi waited until it was done before looking over. The entire back wall had moved, revealing a tiny room with a wooden trap door taking up most of its floor space.</p>
<p>“You go in first in case there are ghosts on the other side,” Bowser Jr. said as he pulled it open, revealing a dark hole and a ladder leading down into it.</p>
<p>To his credit, Luigi only trembled a little as he tiptoed closer to shine his light down into it. There wasn’t much to see, the hole didn’t allow for much view of the room below. There certainly didn’t seem to be any ghosts immediately present though so…  He carefully holstered the flash light onto the side of the Poltergust and started down. There was just <em>barely</em> enough room for him to fit with the Poltergust on his back.</p>
<p>The ladder was old and rusty. He didn’t trust it one bit as it creaked and groaned every time he put weight on a new rung. But somehow, he made it to the bottom without mishap.</p>
<p>Stepping away from it, he hurriedly pulled out the flash light again and switched it on. He was in a bare stone room not much bigger than the closet above. There was no visible exit or means of opening one; another secret for sure then.</p>
<p>Gooigi made a sound from above.  Before Luigi could even glance up at them though they splatted down on the floor in front him. Apparently, they’d chosen not to bother with the ladder and just jump down instead. The impact was enough that they lost some of the form in their legs but they quickly shook it off, even giving Luigi a thumbs up.</p>
<p>Luigi almost wanted to scold them for being reckless when they were so fragile. But they were made of goo and thus it’d probably take a much longer fall to damage them. Instead, he looked up to watch Bowser Jr. descend. Which took maybe a grand total of five seconds because not even quite halfway down he decided to jump off too, giving Luigi another spike of anxiety because who <em>did that</em>? Luigi of course reached out to catch him but was a bit too slow and a bit too far away.</p>
<p>It didn’t matter though because Bowser Jr. stuck the landing. He even did a little satisfied giggle before turning to one of the bare stone walls. “Turn away again,” he said, his tone that of someone used to being obeyed without question; a bit annoying but not unexpected.</p>
<p>“You shouldn’t jump off ladders,” Luigi said as he obeyed. “It’s dangerous.”</p>
<p>“Ugh, you sound like Papa and Kamek except <em>worse</em> because all I did was jump off a ladder.”</p>
<p>“It’s <em>dangerous</em>.”</p>
<p>Bowser Jr. didn’t reply. If Luigi had to guess, he was probably rolling his eyes. Whatever though, he was only Luigi’s responsibility until at latest Bowser was saved and King Boo dealt with.</p>
<p>A few seconds later there another sound of grinding stone. Turning back around to look once it was done revealed that it led into another closet, this one completely empty. Stepping around Bowser Jr. and past Gooigi, Luigi took the lead once more.</p>
<p>The closet exited out into… what had to be a store room judging based off the wall of crates in front of him a lot of which had the Bullet-Bill logo printed on the side facing him. Meaning this was likely a room full of explosives. Great, another thing to be anxious about. It’d probably be fine though, right? They’d been fine down here this long after all.</p>
<p>On the other side of the wall of boxes indistinct noise could be heard. Motioning for silence from Gooigi but mostly Bowser Jr. as the two of them fell in behind him, Luigi tiptoed over to where the wall of crates ended, allowing him to peek around them at the source of the noise.</p>
<p>Ghosts, naturally; a bigger group of them than any Luigi had had to deal with so far on this adventure but far from the biggest group he’d ever had to take out. They were all turned away from him, seemingly looking at and perhaps arguing over something on the wall that Luigi couldn’t quite make out through them. … He could easily sneak past them to the other side of the room.</p>
<p>He shouldn’t though, right?  He didn’t want them sneaking up on him later and they needed to be cleared out. But… he was just trying to pass through right now to whatever secret passage led to Bowser’s room. So maybe he could justify sneaking past for now and coming back later? …</p>
<p>There was a bark at his feet. It was Polterpup. Where he’d suddenly come from was unknown but… looking back up, Luigi flinched and maybe even squeaked a little; all the ghosts were looking at him and they weren’t happy to see him.</p>
<p>
  <strong>[Pretend the first boss fight is written here. It starts as a group of ghosts and then the boss comes out. It isn’t difficult or all that special, the first boss never is.]</strong>
</p>
<p>Turns out the thing the ghosts had been looking at on the wall was a portrait. Which wasn’t unusual by itself, the stronger ghosts tended to either be put in charge of or gravitate to the portraits, but the fact that it was a portrait of boos was very odd. There were five of them, the foremost of which had a flag on its head.</p>
<p>It was strange and didn’t make sense. Why would King Boo turn some of his boos into a portrait? I didn’t really matter though as long as they stayed in the portrait. Luigi had no desire to investigate further lest it be trap. But as he turned away…</p>
<p>“The boo squad!” Bowser Jr. said as, the cost clear, he was able to come out from behind the crates. He ran over to join Luigi and Gooigi standing near the portrait. “They’ll be a great help. Now how do you work the dark light thingy or whatever you called it?” He looked down to start fiddling with his flashlight, quickly finding the right button because there weren’t many.</p>
<p>“No, no, no,” Luigi said, quickly stepping between him and the portrait. “Don’t do that!”</p>
<p>Bowser Jr. gave him a genuinely confused frown. “Why not?”</p>
<p>“They’re <em>boos</em>!” A whole group of them too. With Gooigi he had a good chance of being able to handle them but he’d rather not if he didn’t have to. “They’re what we’re here to fight.”</p>
<p>“They’re Papa’s minions though. They’re loyal to him and thus me too. If that <em>wasn’t</em> the case they wouldn’t be in a painting. Trust me, I know them.”</p>
<p>“I’m not risking it. We can free them after we deal with King Boo, okay?” It was far too much to risk and Luigi would rather have nothing to do with boos regardless of who’s minions they were.</p>
<p>Bowser Jr. scowled. “I didn’t ask your opinion on the matter. They’re basically my minions so I’m going to free them.”</p>
<p>Luigi had to physically grab the flashlight to keep him from switching on the dark light and stepping around him. Bowser Jr. unsurprisingly didn’t let go though, yanking back on it with a growl instead. Luigi was going to stand his ground though and yanked right back. He was the professional ghost hunter here, he was calling the shots and Bowser’s minions or not, he <em>refused</em> to risk freeing the boos right now.</p>
<p>“No,” he said, proud of how firm he was in it. “Not happening. You came to <em>me</em> for help so I get to…” A boo laughed behind him, making him cut off with a small yelp. And he surrendered his hold on the flashlight as more boos swooped in to surround him and Bowser Jr.</p>
<p>He snapped around to confirm that yes, they were from the portrait. Gooigi was just switching off their dark light, turning to face him and give him a thumbs up. Of all the people who’d disagree with his stance on this, he never would’ve suspected Gooigi. They had indeed come a long way from the near mindless blob they’d been when E. Gadd had first introduced them. Which made them all the more mysterious.</p>
<p>“Thank you for coming to rescue us Young Lord,” the boo with the flag, clearly the leader of the group, said.</p>
<p>“You’re <em>very</em> welcome.” Bowser Jr.’s smug filled voice matched his grin as Luigi turned back around to face him. “Now uh… report. Yes, report to me about what happened.”</p>
<p>“King Boo invaded the dungeons. When we approached him, he asked us to betray Lord Bowser and join him in taking over the castle. We didn’t of course, we would never betray Lord Bowser. There wasn’t much we could do against him since it was only us and one other unit there at the time and thus, we got turned into a portrait. However, we were aware inside the painting so we sort of know what happened but not all of it.”</p>
<p>While he spoke, Luigi very carefully sidled his way out of the ring of boos. The fact that they were loyal to Lord Bowser and therefore technically allies here didn’t make them any less scary. And in his opinion it still hadn’t been worth the risk. He glanced at Gooigi, intending to give them a disapproving look but… he couldn’t mad at them. They had to have their own reasons for trusting Bowser Jr.’s promise that these boos were worth freeing and their judgement on it had turned out to be right.</p>
<p>“My dad’s been turned into a painting,” Bowser Jr. said in reply. To his credit, his voice barely faltered. “So have most of if not all the minions in the castle, all of the Koopalings, Kamek and all his Magikoopas as far as I know. I had to go out to get help from a professional ghost hunter. I know he doesn’t seem like much right now but Luigi’s beaten up King Boo three whole times now which is why I went to him. Now you guys are going to help us. Stay hidden and find where King Boo put all the paintings and then report it back to us so we can save everyone. Also, if you find where King Boo is hiding out, report that to us too. Same with anything else that you think might be good for us to know.”</p>
<p>“Understood!” Flag Boo lifted one of his little arms in a military salute. “You guys heard the Young Lord,” he said, addressing his squad now, “it’s time to help save Lord Bowser again.” He then sprouted off quick orders of who was going to search what floor/area. As soon as he was done, the boos scattered, zooming off in different directions.</p>
<p>As soon as no trace of them remained Bowser Jr. stuck out his tongue to blow a raspberry at Luigi, even lifting a hand to make an L by his head. After how competently he’d just commanded his dad’s underlings, it was almost kind of funny.</p>
<p>Not in the mood to deal with him right now, Luigi looked away as he shook off the chills being around so many boos had given him. Wordlessly, he started for the general direction of he hoped would be the store room’s exit, trusting the other two to follow him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry for skipping the boss fight but I just couldn't write it. Like I said though, I'm hoping the finale will at least sort of make up for it.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Secrets</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They had to fight through more ghosts on the way to Kamek’s lab but despite that it didn’t take them too long to reach it. It was an absolute mess; books and magical objects were all over the tables or stacked semi-haphazardly on the floor. Even the bookshelf wasn’t immune to the random object or piece of paper placed on top of or in front of its books. Other than the large empty cage off to the side, pressed against a wall, it reminded Luigi of E. Gadd’s lab; messy but in a way the owner probably knew where almost everything was.</p>
<p>“There shouldn’t be any ghosts in here,” Bowser Jr. said as he closed the door behind him. “He’s got spells and stuff to keep people out. You two could only enter because you’re with me. Though uh… I guess I don’t know if it works on ghosts or not.”</p>
<p>Gooigi was already checking things and tidying other things, they’d begun the moment they’d entered. Luigi joined them, starting on the other side of the room. It never hurt to make sure that there were no ghosts about. Bowser Jr. groaned and probably rolled his eyes again but made no proper complaint.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Turns out Kamek’s protection spells either didn’t work on ghosts or they’d found a way around them. A couple ghosts had found hiding spots amongst the clutter in the room. Once they were dealt with, Bowser Jr. led way through another hidden door into a room that contained nothing but three wardrobes. “That one leads to outside,” he said, pointing to the one on the left, “that one leads to the throne room,” the middle one, “and this one here leads to Papa’s room,” and finally the one on the right.</p>
<p>Luigi walked around to see that there was nothing on the other side of any of them so… “Uh… how do they work?”</p>
<p>“Magic. You step in, close the doors, and then when you open them, you’re on the other side.”</p>
<p>“So, like the warp pipes then?”</p>
<p>“I guess so yeah.”</p>
<p>Luigi hadn’t even considered that that kind of magic might be used on other things but there was no reason why it couldn’t be, right? But… “Why does Kamek have one leading to your dad’s room?” That was kind of odd, wasn’t it? Bowser didn’t seem the type to be comfortable with someone having easy access to his private space.</p>
<p>“He set it up when Dad was a hatchling to make it easier to keep doing stuff in the lab and tend to him at the same time. Which is weird to think about because like he’s my dad. But speaking of that, let’s go save him and beat up King Boo… hopefully anyway.” He open the appropriate wardrobe’s door and gestured for Luigi and Gooigi to step in before him. Upon stepping in after them, he reached up as if to pulled the doors closed but paused instead.</p>
<p>“These secret passages and stuff are super-secret,” he said, “no one’s supposed to know about them who isn’t super important in the castle. I would never even dream of showing them to you if it wasn’t for everything going on so don’t you <em>ever</em> tell anyone else about them. And don’t let my dad know I showed you them to you either, he’s uh… not very understanding about things sometimes so it might make him mad.”</p>
<p>“Uh… I promise I won’t tell, neither will Gooigi.” Luigi was good at keeping secrets and Gooigi was even better due to the fact that they rarely spoke.</p>
<p>“Cool… thanks.”</p>
<p>After a beat or two of silence, Bowser Jr. pulled the doors closed, waited a few seconds and opened them, revealing another secret room.</p>
<p>After stepping out, Luigi grabbed hold of Gooigi’s arm to turn them around with him before Bowser Jr. could order them to this time. It’d be easier if he knew the secret to opening the walls but there was no use arguing about it especially since it seemed Bowser Jr. was likely to stick with him throughout this whole adventure whether he liked it or not anyway.</p>
<p>Before the sound of the false wall opening finished Bowser Jr. let out a small squeak that was echoed by another being. Luigi snapped around to see another group of ghosts in the room, stronger ones this time, one of which was directly in front of the opening wall.</p>
<p>Even while flinching Luigi managed to press the button on the flashlight that made it flash, stunning the ghost. Gooigi hopped into the room to start vacuuming it immediately, leaving Luigi room to recover from the scare and Bowser Jr. to step back behind the two of them again.</p>
<p>Stronger ghosts or not, they quickly proved no match for Gooigi and the Poltergust. Honestly this ghost busting business might’ve been fun if it was anything other than ghosts they were hunting. But once they were all cleared out it was pretty obvious that Bowser’s portrait was not in here.</p>
<p>There were signs of a fight between King Boo and Bowser, stuff knocked over and burn marks on the walls but that’s all that remained. A bit disappointing but Luigi really hadn’t expected much anyway because things could never be easy, could they? Just like the prior three time’s he’d have to fight his way through the entire castle’s worth of ghosts before reaching King Boo.</p>
<p>Before he could do more than sigh about that his phone started ringing. It was E. Gadd’s tune.</p>
<p>“How goes the ghost busting?” E. Gadd said with an almost grating amount of joviality in his voice as soon as Luigi answered it.</p>
<p>“It’s scary but nothing new.”</p>
<p>“Good, good. Be careful though who knows what King Boo might have up his sleeve this time. But anyway, I’ve arrived. The castle gates are locked though so I had to set up my mobile lab outside them for now. Whenever you have a minute stop on by to let me in and drop your ghosties into the vault.”</p>
<p>The Poltergust was almost full to capacity by now so… “We’ll head down there now.” And hopefully he’d be able to drop Bowser Jr. off with E. Gadd, probably not but it was worth a try.</p>
<p>He hung up and pocketed his phone as he turned to Bowser Jr. to tell him where they should head next. Bowser Jr. spoke up before he could do more than take a breath though. “You think my dad’s okay? Like… you know more about the portraits and stuff right, being trapped in one isn’t like… torture or anything, right?”</p>
<p>“Uh… Mario and the Toads all say they don’t remember anything about their time in the portraits so it’s probably like sleeping or something. And therefore, you dad and everyone else is fine, we just got to rescue them.” Luigi gave him his best encouraging smile; Mario had always been better at those but his was pretty good if he did say so himself.</p>
<p>Whether it worked or not was hard to tell, Bowser Jr. still looked worried, maybe slightly less though? “I hope so,” he said. “Let’s go talk to E. Gadd though I guess since I assume that was him on the phone.”</p>
<p>~</p>
<p>Getting to E. Gadd’s lab was made very easy through use of the magic wardrobes. The one that led outside led all the way outside the castle walls, making it a simple trek to where E. Gadd had set up his mobile lab. Polterpup greeted them just outside it with an excited bark – he certainly got around quite a bit.</p>
<p>“You have a spare Poltergust?” Bowser Jr. asked as soon as they were inside and Luigi was emptying the Poltergust into the mobile vault. “I want to help hunt ghosts.”</p>
<p>“Hmm… I probably should’ve brought one, huh? Just in case.” E. Gadd replied with a slight grimace before shrugging it off. “Oh well, too late now. But even if I had, it probably wouldn’t fit well on your back.”</p>
<p>Bowser Jr. frowned. “Can you make one that would fit then? … Though I guess that’d take too long, huh?”</p>
<p>“And you don’t need to be hunting ghosts anyway,” Luigi cut in. It felt weird taking such a hard stance on it, normally he preferred to just role with whatever people wanted to do because that was just easier but Bowser Jr. was a kid and at this point Luigi was basically babysitting him – with help from Gooigi of course but there was a very real chance they didn’t know what a child was – so he was responsible for his wellbeing and therefore felt the need to insist he stay out of harm’s way. “And speaking of that, I think he should stay in the lab with you E. Gadd.”</p>
<p>“No, no, no.” Bowser Jr. stamped his foot, proving his childishness beyond any shadow of a doubt. “I’m staying with you. I’ve already proven I can be helpful.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but…”</p>
<p>“But nothing, I’m staying with you and Gooigi and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. You’re on my side on this right, Gooigi?”</p>
<p>They looked at him and then at Luigi and then back at him before shrugging. Either not wanting to take sides or not really carrying either way.</p>
<p>“What about you E. Gadd? You agree with me, right? Ghost hunting’s too dangerous for a kid.” As far as Luigi was concerned it was too dangerous for <em>him</em> and he was full grown adult.</p>
<p>“Well, while I agree that’s true, I don’t think there’s any way you can convince Junior not to tag along with you. Also, he’s a Koopa so he’s tougher than your average child and thus as long as he’s with you and Gooigi he should be fine.”</p>
<p>“Ha, I win!” Bowser Jr. crossed his arms triumphantly. “Now, what all can you do in this lab that can help us save everyone and stop King Boo?”</p>
<p>~</p>
<p>Counter to Luigi’s hopes but not expectations, E. Gadd’s lab scanners still had no way to sense where the portraits were. It also still couldn’t detect the difference between an energy signature that was a large group of ghosts or a small group of stronger ghosts or even one big ghost, meaning there was still no way to pinpoint where King Boo was for sure. It’d still be helpful though and that’s about all Luigi could ask for; going around without the option to call E. Gadd for advice if needed hadn’t been an issue so far but it easily could’ve turned into one.</p>
<p>Before heading back out to hunt more ghosts, E. Gadd set Luigi up with his latest communication device. Like all the other ones, it was mostly a tracker so E. Gadd would always know where they were at all times. Why he kept changing the design was beyond Luigi but a lot of what E. Gadd did didn’t make sense so it was excepted at this point. With it in hand, their unfortunately short respite from the ghosts was soon over.</p>
<p>Stepping back into the secret room in Kamek’s lab, Luigi flinched and flashed his light at the boo floating in the middle of the room. All it earned him was an annoyed look because the flash didn’t affect them. It was fine though because <em>thankfully</em> it was the flag boo again. Luigi didn’t trust him still and probably never would but at least he wasn’t an immediate threat.</p>
<p>“Young sir,” the boo said, his eyes shifting to Bowser Jr. as he stepped out of the wardrobe behind Gooigi, “we’ve found Kamek’s portrait. It’s in the throne room. It’s well guarded though so be careful.”</p>
<p>“Awesome,” Bowser Jr. said, far too eager. “We’ll head there next. But from here on out, you’re going to report to E. Gadd. He can contact Luigi remotely so you won’t have to come find us next time you or your squad find something important. E. Gadd’s lab is in the trailer just outside the main gates, Luigi will call him to explain what’s up.”</p>
<p>“No offense young sir but I’d rather report to you directly. I’m not sure how well we can trust these people.” He glanced at Luigi with a slight glare before returning his gaze to Bowser Jr. Ah yes, he’d said he was aware while in portrait so he’d been witness to Luigi’s attempt to prevent him from being freed, whoops. It had still been the right thing to do though; something turning out fine didn’t mean it had been worth the risk.</p>
<p>“Too bad, as long as my dad’s in danger, I’m in charge and I trust them. We’ve dealt with E. Gadd several times before and he’s never betrayed us, Luigi’s too much of a goody-two-shoes to even think about it, and Gooigi is made of goo and that’s cool so I trust them the most. If you disagree then you’re just going to have to deal with it.”</p>
<p>Apparently pleased by the compliment, Gooigi formed their hand into a thumbs up. Bowser Jr. returned it with a grin. Flag Boo frowned at them both before sighing.</p>
<p>“Okay, you’re the boss for now,” he said. “I’ll report to E. Gadd from here on out.”</p>
<p>“Very good! Now get back to work trying to find everyone. And you,” Bowser Jr. said, turning to face Luigi as the boo vanished, “call E. Gadd again and tell him to trust and listen to what Captain Boo says. And I don’t care if you still don’t trust him, we need him and his squad to help find the portraits.”</p>
<p>Luigi couldn’t exactly argue with that, it made sense. Even if the boos couldn’t hide from other ghosts as well, they could travel through walls and floors/ceilings and were thus better suited for searching for the portraits and King Boo himself than anyone living was. And so Luigi kept quiet and didn’t protest as he pulled out the communicator. He wasn’t even going to ask about that the supposed prior dealings with E. Gadd thing because E. Gadd was in it for science and would sell his talents and/or inventions to anyone willing to buy them to fund his ghost research or anything else he wanted to work on. The sooner this adventure was over, the better.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Frustration</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Wish me luck in being able to finish this fic in time because the end of Halloween approaches and the fic's still not done. I think I got one chapter left to write though (not the next chapter, that I just finished writing tonight) so it should maybe be fine, writing can be hard sometimes though and this part of the fic is certainly so.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Watching Luigi and Gooigi fight the rather large and intimidating ghost in the throne room was equal parts super cool and immensely frustrating. Bowser Jr. desperately wanted to help but all he had was a flashlight, one made specifically for ghost hunting sure but it wasn’t enough to actually be helpful so all he could really do was watch from the sidelines.</p>
<p>After this whole adventure was over though, he was going to have E. Gadd make him something that would allow him to fight ghosts too. And then he was going to have Luigi teach him all the ghost hunting tips and tricks he knew. And then if anything like this ever happened again, he wouldn’t have to run away, he could just fight them all on his own. Papa was going to be so proud of him.</p>
<p>The fight went on for some time but there was never any doubt Luigi and Gooigi would be the victors. The big strong ghost let out one last desperate wail before vanishing into Luigi’s Poltergust. The ghostly bars that had descended to keep them trapped in the room dissipated a second later as the atmosphere in the throne room seemed to lighten a bit.</p>
<p>As Bowser Jr. stepped out of the secret room he’d been hiding in Luigi and Gooigi did a dorky victory pose together. It was dumb but at this point not surprising so Bowser Jr. ignored it, turning his attention to Kamek’s portrait instead. It had been hung up on the wall behind the throne. He jogged over to it to shine the dark light on it: finally, something more he could do to be helpful even if it wasn’t nearly enough to be satisfying.</p>
<p>Unlike Captain Boo and his squad, Kamek came out of the painting looking disoriented and confused. “Young sir,” he said as he looked around with a slight frown. “May I ask what’s going on here?”</p>
<p>“You mean you don’t remember?” Bowser Jr. did his best to keep his relief over Kamek being saved out of his voice because he had to pretend that he wasn’t scared or worried, that he had this situation under control.</p>
<p>“No, I was in the lab and then… King Boo showed up and then nothing. But I presume if you’re here and I’m saved, the situation must be handled. Where is Lord Bowser?”</p>
<p>It was a struggle to maintain eye contact. “The situation isn’t fully handled yet; we’re still working on it. Papa is still trapped in a portrait, we think King Boo has him.”</p>
<p>Kamek grimaced heavily. After several seconds of silence, he took a deep breath before speaking. “Why is Green Mario and… whatever that goo being is here during this time?”</p>
<p>Bowser Jr. glanced over to see that Gooigi was standing nearby watching them. Luigi wasn’t, he was examining Papa’s throne instead. He was close enough to overhear Bowser Jr. and Kamek’s conversation but if he was listening or not was hard to say, not that it mattered.</p>
<p>“That’s Gooigi,” Bowser Jr. said, pointing to them, “they’re super cool so I’ve decided they’re my friend now. And they’re here with Luigi because they’re professional ghost hunters. I had to run away and get them because I couldn’t do it by myself.” That <em>didn’t</em> make him a coward even if he kind of felt like one, it had been the smart thing to do.</p>
<p>Kamek’s frowned deepened. Oh no, was he mad that Bowser Jr. had run away? Disappointed? … He was, wasn’t he? Because Papa would’ve never even thought of running away even if he had told Bowser Jr. to. But even that command hadn’t been to run all the way away, he’d been telling him to run and hide so he could take care of King Boo himself. He’d lost though, Bowser Jr. had watched through a crack in the hidden door as he got sucked up into a portrait. So… he’d run all the way away to get help because there was nothing else he could’ve done. But… it still made him a coward, didn’t it?</p>
<p>“I suppose if they’re the only experts available, we have no choice but to trust them for now. We should keep an eye on them though, make sure they don’t try to take advantage of this opportunity.”</p>
<p>“I don’t think they will, E. Gadd told me to go to them and he’s never betrayed us and also they’re both goodie-two-shoes so they wouldn’t even really consider it.” And Bowser Jr. had stuck with them long enough that he trusted them to at least do this task well. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest to trust someone who’s brother was their enemy but they didn’t have much choice.</p>
<p>“I’ll trust your judgment on this Young Lord, you’re in charge until we rescue Lord Bowser.”</p>
<p>Yep and that was kind of awful actually. He liked being in charge of minions and military operations but… always before Papa had at <em>most</em> been little more than a phone call away. And most of the time, he’d had his siblings around to back him up too. At least he now had Kamek to advise him. Speaking of that… “How useful is your magic against ghosts?”</p>
<p>“Hmmm… I’m sorry to say sir but it’s far more useful against physical things. When not taken by surprise though, I should be able to hold my own a bit better.”</p>
<p>“That’s what I thought. You might be able to help us but I’d prefer it if you waited outside with E. Gadd for the time being.” Both to give advice over the communicator and to be available to be called on for backup and/or a quick magical removal from a dicey situation. And, even if things were going well so far, it was good to hold back something in reserve whenever possible in case things started going south. “His lab is just outside the main gates. We,” Bowser Jr. gestured back in the general direction of where he assumed Gooigi and Luigi still were, “need to get back to ghost busting, be ready if we need you though.”</p>
<p>“Understood.” If being sent away to be backup bothered him any, he gave no indication of it. He waved his wand and vanished in a puff of smoke.</p>
<p>Letting out a sigh of relief, Bowser Jr. turned around to see that Luigi was watching him now too with an odd expression. “What are you looking at? Let’s get back to hunting ghosts.”</p>
<p>Luigi rolled his eyes a little but moved to do as he was told so whatever. Gooigi was already moving to do so too. Bowser Jr. fell in a safe distance behind them.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Bowser’s treasure room, hidden up in the attic was without a doubt the best room in the castle. The only problem with it was that it had been a mess, seemingly anything and everything that Bowser thought looked nice – regardless of its monetary value – had been stashed up here with zero rhyme or reason. It had taken King Boo a long while to fix it but he’d done it and now all the statues and various knickknacks and other items were arranged in a much more aesthetically pleasing manner. Completing the look and feel of it was Bowser’s portrait on the wall. The angry look of disbelief on his face was really what sealed it; it wasn’t often such an expression was seen in King Boo’s portraits.</p>
<p>But now that that was done, he could start working on things that were more important. One of Bowser’s brats was still missing after he’d somehow gotten away but it was only a matter of time before he showed up again; no son of Bowser’s could ever be that much of a coward, right? So given enough time that would solve itself. The Luigi problem however would not.</p>
<p>Taking a break from it to take over Bowser’s Castle instead, so far hadn’t sparked any new ideas. There had to be something though, right? Maybe even something to do with his newfound position as head of Bowser’s Castle? Well, he had time. Surely, he could get away with enjoying his victory a little while longer before he had to worry too much about that. …</p>
<p>“Boss!”</p>
<p>He turned to see one of his boos had entered, looking rather flustered. Which probably meant bad news, ugh. “Yes?”</p>
<p>“We found the kid who escaped. Which would normally be good news but uh… he’s got Luigi and E. Gadd’s goo thing with him.”</p>
<p>“<em>What</em>?”</p>
<p>“Luigi and his goo clone are here with and they’re ghost hunting. They’re being very thorough too. I only got away because they were taking care of the fellow you put in charge of the throne room.”</p>
<p>Why would Luigi be here? There was literally no reason for him to be. Bowser was his enemy so even if he’d known King Boo had taken over the castle why would he care at all let alone enough to come? Surely, he didn’t want to rescue Bowser, meaning he just hated King Boo that much. Well the feeling was mutual.</p>
<p>“All right, go inform everyone you can, tell them to be ready to deal with him.”</p>
<p>“Yes Boss!” The boo saluted before zipping back out of the room.</p>
<p>As soon as he was gone, King Boo growled. He was half tempted to knock something over, the only thing stopping him was the fact that he’d just gotten the room looking nice. But <em>why</em> was Luigi here? It didn’t make sense! … The why of it didn’t really matter though because he was here regardless of how little sense it made.</p>
<p>With a frown, King Boo turned to look back at the Bowser portrait and its angry expression that now mirrored how he felt. He was just going to have to take care of Luigi here and now instead of later. Easier said than done, especially since he probably had only a few hours to prepare, possibly less depending on how long it took Luigi to find him. … Maybe it was time to change tactics a little.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Dungeon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After freeing Kamek, they had no more leads on where to go and thus went back to going through and methodically clearing out rooms until Luigi got another call from E. Gadd. Intel from the boo squad pointed them in the direction of another portrait. It was just some goombas that weren’t even super well-guarded but it was conveniently close by and they still needed saving even if doing so wouldn’t lead to finding King Boo.</p>
<p>Eventually, after a few more portraits, intel from the boos as well as that just being the direction, they were going anyway lead them to the dining hall. Where even with E. Gadd’s warning about how much ghost activity was going on inside, Luigi was surprised by the sheer number of ghosts that greeted him when he opened the doors. It was like a party in there and unfortunately, they noticed Luigi’s entrance right away, meaning he had little time to prepare before the fight started.</p>
<p>Things got a little dicey but ultimately thanks to Gooigi, he made it out on the other side only a little battered. Bowser Jr. ended up helping too via being a distraction and stunning ghosts with his flashlight either to defend himself or to help in taking them out. It was reckless and dumb, he should’ve run but he handled himself well. Enough so that once all the ghosts were cleared out, Luigi refrained from scolding him, thanking him for the help instead.</p>
<p>In the portraits, five of them, hung up along the walls, were an assortment of all the various kinds of minions Bowser employed. None of them were boos, though the dry bones were a bit iffy and scary because they were undead but as long as they weren’t ghosts it was probably fine.</p>
<p>Once they were all free, Bowser Jr. addressed them, telling them what was up and where to go and stuff. Luigi didn’t pay much attention, instead focusing on playing fetch with Polterpup for a bit. It was a welcome break that was unfortunately over all too soon because…</p>
<p>“I have good news and bad news,” E. Gadd reported over the communicator as soon as Luigi answered its ring. “Which do you want to hear first?”</p>
<p>“Uh… bad news?” Best to get that out of the way first.</p>
<p>“Most of our boo friends seem to have been caught and recaptured. Only the Captain and one other remain, though considering how long it’s been, the latter might’ve been captured too.” Surprisingly that wasn’t too bad, not good, they were helpful even if they were scary – and not totally trustworthy as far as Luigi was concerned – but not the end of the world either.</p>
<p>“And the good news?”</p>
<p>“While you were dealing with the dining hall ghosts, the Koopalings’ portraits were spotted being brought down to the dungeon. However, trying to investigate further is what lost us most of our boo friends so we don’t know what’s down there. It’s big though, I can tell you that based of the scanner’s reading. Both that and losing most of the boo squad when they went down there is what leads me and Kamek here to suspect it may be a trap.”</p>
<p>“How is that good news then?”</p>
<p>“If it’s a trap, that means it might be King Boo himself down there. Capturing him again should make the rest of the ghosts surrender or at least damage to moral enough to make capturing them easy.”</p>
<p>“But… it’s a trap!”</p>
<p>“Yes, but you’ve beaten him three times before so I’m sure you’ll be fine… probably anyway, there’s always a first time for everything, including losing. I’m rooting for you though sonny, you got Gooigi with you and you two are a fantastic ghost busting team. So, go and investigate, if nothing else you’ll at least save some kids.” With that he hung up, leaving Luigi floundering.</p>
<p>Going willing into a trap was <em>not</em> his idea of a smart move even if there was a good chance he’d be able to get out of it. There was always the chance that King Boo might finally best him either through a mistake he’d made or just being outsmarted. But… he didn’t have much choice; he’d come here to save everyone in general but the fact that they were kids made saving them even more important. And if King Boo <em>was</em> in the dungeon, he’d have to go down there eventually no matter what because the problem wouldn’t be solved until King Boo was taken care of. So what should he do? …</p>
<p>“What did E. Gadd have to say?”</p>
<p>He looked up to see Bowser Jr. and Gooigi had approached. The minions were gone now, presumably ordered to go somewhere safe for now.</p>
<p>After taking a deep breath to clear his mind, Luigi relayed to them what E. Gadd had told him, including the fact that it might be a trap.</p>
<p>“Hmm… a potential trap is worrying,” Bowser Jr. said when he was finished. “I don’t know if we have much choice though, we <em>have</em> to save them. But uh…” he glanced around the room before leaning in a bit more, his voice lowering to a near whisper, “still no sign of my dad?”</p>
<p>“No, sorry. He’ll be fine though, I promise. We’ll save him.” Luigi could almost guarantee that, right? Because Mario had always ultimately ended up fine every time he’d been taken by King Boo. He understood the worry though because there was always that ‘what if?’ in the back of one’s mind when a loved one was in danger.</p>
<p>Bowser Jr. shifted nervously but seemed to take some comfort in the promise as he nodded. “Yeah, we’ll save him eventually, I’m not worried. Let’s go save my siblings now. They’re going to be so jealous I got to help hunt ghosts with the pros <em>and</em> that I got to befriend a real-life goo person.” With a good facsimile of excitement, he took off towards the dining room’s exit.</p>
<p>Gooigi made a pleased sound as they followed. Feeling quite pleased as well that being allowed to help hunt ghosts with him was apparently something to be jealous of, Luigi stood up and hurried to catch up. Before deciding to head into a potential trap, they had to go back to E. Gadd and empty the Poltergust first anyway so he had some time to think about it. … He would probably end up going though, wouldn’t he? Because he wouldn’t be allowed to say ‘no’, he never was in these ghost hunting ‘adventures’.</p>
<p>~</p>
<p>The dungeons were of course in the basement, further down past Kamek’s lab. Unfortunately, there weren’t any secret passages heading to them, allowing entrance from an unexpected avenue, so they just had to make do. Polterpup had shown up again at least, trotting along only a short distance ahead, he’d warn them if he sensed anything too dangerous ahead of them… hopefully anyway.</p>
<p>As their little group made their way down the hall, the air seemed to get colder and tighter with each step forward. Luigi was shivering but he soldiered on anyway because he’d said he would and because Bowser Jr. trailed after him, depending on and expecting him to save his family. Gosh, babysitting really was the worst, wasn’t it?</p>
<p>Soon, up ahead, Polterpup slowed to a stop, raising his hackles to growl at something, allowing Luigi and company to catch up to him. The narrow hallway ended, opening up into a room, lined with jail cells. It was dark and their flashlights couldn’t penetrate far but of all the cells that were visible, they all appeared empty. There was no way they were though. Luigi and Gooigi would have to check every single one to root out the ghosts and whatever Polterpup was upset enough to growl at. And to make matters worse, Luigi’s flashlight was vibrating, indicating the presence of a hidden boo nearby. Which was just <em>great</em> because now he had to hunt down the boo’s hiding spot and get jump scared by it when it inevitably popped out at him.</p>
<p>How could he have possibly ended up in this situation? The only thing scarier than a haunted castle or mansion was a haunted dungeon deep underground – it wasn’t really <em>that</em> deep underground but it sure felt like there were miles of earth above them with how heavy the air seemed.</p>
<p>“What are we waiting for?” Bowser Jr. whispered, his voice barely audible but still enough to make Luigi startle. “My siblings are down here somewhere, we have to save them so let’s <em>go</em>.” He sounded scared too though and doing a poor job of hiding it.</p>
<p>“Let’s a-go,” Gooigi agreed in a whisper as they pointed into the room, eager to get going. At least they weren’t scared, they just wanted to hunt ghosts. And that was what they were here for so… with a sigh, Luigi took the lead again, silently gesturing Bowser Jr. to stay back at the entrance.</p>
<p>Maybe it was the jail cells and the strange shadows their flashlights cast into them through their bars but despite being more open, the room felt just as claustrophobic if not more so than the narrow hall had. It combined with the heavy atmosphere and knowing at least one boo hid somewhere within the darkness made Luigi wish more than ever he were almost anywhere else in the world right now. But that was pretty standard with these ghost hunting ‘adventures’. This was the <em>last</em> time though, after this he was going to make <em>sure</em> E. Gadd kept King Boo contained permanently. All he had to do was capture King Boo one last time.</p>
<p>Before he and Gooigi could take more than a few steps into the room, Polterpup barked and rushed forward to stand in front of them. He growled at something ahead of them a little way and to the left. There wasn’t anything visible there which could only mean one thing. Before Luigi or Gooigi could switch on their dark lights…</p>
<p>“Stupid traitorous dog, <em>shut up</em>,” a voice growled accompanied by a large thud as if someone with heavy shoes stomped the ground, “You ruined everything.” The spirit orbs dispersed, revealing what they’d been hiding. It was…</p>
<p>“Bowser?” Luigi asked, taking a step back. But no, actually there was something wrong with him.</p>
<p>“Papa! You’re okay.”</p>
<p>Luigi looked back to see Bowser Jr. rushing over. He barely managed to catch him as he passed by, grabbing him by the back of the shell and pulling him back.</p>
<p>“Hey! What are you doing?” Bowser Jr. struggled as Luigi desperately tried to hold him back.  </p>
<p>‘Bowser’ chuckled, his laugh strange and <em>wrong</em> but confirming Luigi’s fears. His mane, normally red was bleached white, his eyes glowing purple matched the glow of the crystal crown on his head. A less dramatic transformation than the last time Luigi had seen him possessed by a ghost but still just as unmistakable.</p>
<p>“Wow, you really are babysitting the brat, how <em>cute</em>?” King Boo said, smirking with Bowser’s face. “You’re even softer than I thought. Whatever though, you’ve saved me the trouble of having to hunt him down on my own. Your dumb dog ruined my surprise but I don’t even need it.”</p>
<p>“What?” Bowser Jr. said as he thankfully gave up on trying to reach his father. “What do you mean? What’s going on? Papa?”</p>
<p>Luigi’s heart bled for him but now wasn’t the time to for condolences or explanations. King Boo’s crown atop Bowser’s head flashed, tendrils of light yanked the still growling Polterpup out of the way as he took a deep breath. That meant fire!</p>
<p>Luigi reached over to grab Gooigi’s wrist to yank both them and Bowser Jr. back just in time to avoid it. It came <em>far</em> too close for comfort, seemingly almost signing the tips of his mustache. If he’d been even a few seconds slower to respond… Whatever though, he turned and ran, pushing Bowser Jr. ahead of him and pulling Gooigi along as well. How the <em>hell</em> was he supposed to fight King Boo when he was possessing Bowser?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. King Boo</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry it took so long but this chapter was super difficult to write. I hope it was at least sort of worth the wait.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Another fireball rushed past Luigi’s shoulder, splatting to the floor. King Boo’s aim continued to be terrible but with how big the fireballs Bowser was capable of spitting were, all he had to do was get lucky. It was only a matter of time before he did, right? How deadly it would be, Luigi didn’t want to know. If he wanted to avoid it, he’d have to turn around to fight eventually.</p>
<p>How though? Unlike the first time he’d fought King Boo, this wasn’t a fake, this was the real deal Bowser. In a way it’d be fighting both of them at once and Luigi wasn’t sure he could do that. It maybe wouldn’t have been so bad if King Boo’s magic wasn’t also much stronger than it had been during that first battle. So, it really wasn’t a fight Luigi had any desire to take on top of the fact that he’d come here to save Bowser, beating him up to beat up King Boo seemed counterintuitive even if he had known where to start.</p>
<p>“You <em>fucking</em> cowards!” King Boo growled after them before spitting another fireball. Another miss – <em>thankfully</em> – prompting a roar of frustration.</p>
<p>Running ahead of Luigi, Bowser Jr. made a small sound of distress. He also needed to be somewhere safe before King Boo could be dealt with, especially if it meant beating up Bowser.</p>
<p>“Why run?” Gooigi asked, keeping easy pace with Luigi. “Fight?” They pointed back towards King Boo. “Ghosts! King Boo!”</p>
<p>Luigi might’ve tried to respond but in that moment a fireball hit Gooigi squarely in the back. The goo making up their body scattered far and wide with a loud sizzle. They’d reform in the Poltergust’s tank in a few seconds but seeing them get destroyed always made Luigi feel a little ill, hopefully they weren’t capable of feeling pain. Regardless, for fear of being next, he put on a burst of speed.</p>
<p>Upon reaching the door to Kamek’s lab, Bowser Jr. slid to a near halt to scramble inside. Luigi had no choice but to follow. They were potentially cornering themselves which was terrifying but at the same time there was no way Bowser could fit in the magic wardrobes, making escaping through one an obvious choice if they could just get to one before King Boo reached them. What they’d do about this whole King Boo possessing Bowser situation was something they’d figure out <em>then</em>.</p>
<p>Inside, Bowser Jr. rushed to the secret door – if only they’d thought to leave it open just in case this happened. Luigi slammed the door shut… right onto Bowser’s fingers. It had to have hurt but King Boo wouldn’t care about something like that, would he? He certainly didn’t flinch back. Instead, he gripped the door frame and pressed against the door. Luigi pushed back, putting all his weight into it. It wasn’t enough though, it was already opening, pushing him along with it.</p>
<p>“I got it!” Bowser Jr. said as the secret door started sliding open.</p>
<p>Before Luigi could decide if he should just give up on the door and bolt for it, King Boo gave it a mighty shove, knocking him back. He had no time to recover before King Boo stepped in, looming over him. He bent over to wrap one of Bowser’s hands around Luigi’s <em>entire neck</em>.</p>
<p>“Aha!” he said, yanking Luigi up several feet off the ground. “You’re <em>mine</em>! Just <em>try </em>to,” he imitated the sound of a vacuum sucking, as always it probably would’ve been funny if he wasn’t so scary, “me up in your <em>wretched</em> vacuum now!”</p>
<p>Dangling in his grasp, Luigi pawed at his hand around his neck, desperate to loosen its grip. At the same time, he scrambled for the flashlight to shine the dark light onto Bowser. Maybe it would stun King Boo or <em>something</em>. … Rather unsurprisingly it did nothing other than making his grin even smugger.</p>
<p>“You know, I was real mad at first when you I learned you’d shown up here when you weren’t supposed to,” he said. “But honestly, I think I’m all right with it. I never would’ve thought to do this if you hadn’t. Piloting a meatsuit is troublesome but it does have perks also. Like I can do <em>this</em>!”</p>
<p>He turned and slammed Luigi’s back into the wall hard enough to knock the breath out of him even with Poltergust between him and it. He immediately pulled Luigi back to do it again and again, squeezing his neck so tight he could barely breath. The third slam was accompanied by the sound of cracking glass. Oh no! The Poltergust’s tank! It was strong but even it could only stand up to so much. What would become of Gooigi if they were destroyed when their tank was broken?</p>
<p>“Stop!” Luigi tried to beg, his voice barely more than a whisper, but was ignored as he was slammed violently into the wall again. This time he both heard and felt the glass tank break.</p>
<p>Gooigi splatted to the floor, taking shape with an, “Oh no.”</p>
<p>Holding Luigi back against the wall, King Boo chuckled. Before he could say anything though…</p>
<p>“You leave them and my dad <em>alone</em>!” Bowser Jr. shrieked before jumping in from seemingly nowhere, flinging himself onto King Boo-possessed-Bowser. He went straight for King Boo’s crown; shrunken to fit Bowser’s head better, Junior bit and clawed at it as if he had any hope of doing damage to it.</p>
<p>The distraction caused King Boo’s grip to loosen a bit, allowing Luigi to gasp for sweet, sweet air. King Boo raised Bowser’s other hand to grab Jr. by the foot. He seemed to have trouble doing so though, transforming Bowser’s features from smug to angry. … Bowser had to be fighting him, right? Which was great but what were the chances of him winning even with how stubborn he was? Because despite his best efforts, King Boo managed to grab Jr. by the leg and yank.</p>
<p>Junior wasn’t letting go though. Still biting King Boo’s crown, he gripped it as if his life depended on it, snarling almost like a feral animal. His bravery was admirable but he was going to get himself hurt!</p>
<p>There was little Luigi could do but kick at King Boo and hope it was more of a distraction to him than it was to Bowser. Despite being not all equipped for altercations with physical beings, Gooigi jumped up to help too, wrapping their arms around Bowser’s arm, the one pulling on Junior, as if trying to weigh it down.</p>
<p>“Let go you little <em>brat</em>!” King Boo snarled. “Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something? I’ll deal with you when I’m done with him and his <em>stupid</em> goo clone.”</p>
<p>Junior growled and seemed to bite down harder. It was magic crystal though, what harm could his teeth and claws possible do to it beyond scratching it up a bit? He did maybe have the right idea though; perhaps destroying the crown could force King Boo out. Easier said than done of course but it was a starting point. Now if only Luigi hadn’t been so easily snatched up.</p>
<p>With a sound like lightning striking, King Boo’s crown flashed, zapping Junior and forcing him to let go. King Boo tossed him to the side, forcing Gooigi off him arm with the same motion, clearly still fighting Bowser’s will though as it wasn’t as violent a toss as it could’ve been. But it was still more than enough. Luigi couldn’t turn his head to see where Junior landed but he did hear him hit Kamek’s table with a thud, knocking stuff over with a clatter and distinct sound of glass vials and beakers breaking.</p>
<p>“Now, where were we?” King Boo said as he turned his attention back onto Luigi. “Right, tormenting you because there’s nothing you can do to stop me this time. I could kill you, it’d be so easy to snap you like a twig or gut or bite your head off.” As he spoke his grip on Luigi’s neck tightened until darkness encroached on his vision, narrowing to a pinpoint of light that was King Boo’s now visibly damaged crown, the gold bent slightly, scratch and teeth marks on the jewel itself; it wasn’t indestructible, breaking it was possible.</p>
<p>Before the darkness could close in fully on that too, King Boo’s grip suddenly loosened, allowing Luigi to gasp for air again. “… less fun,” King Boo’s words phased in as the ringing in Luigi’s ears faded to background noise. “I still want you as a portrait on my wall and the living always make for better portraits, in my opinion anyway. That doesn’t mean I need to keep you <em>whole</em> though. I deserve some cathartic stress relief after all you’ve…”</p>
<p>He cut off with an undignified grunt as what appeared to be a wooden table slammed into his back, knocking him over and making him let go of Luigi. One would think he’d know better than to take time to gloat by now but luckily, he hadn’t learned better yet and hopefully never would.</p>
<p>Gasping for breath and clutching at his bruised throat, Luigi scrambled back to his feet – he was going to hurt a lot later but for now, with the adrenaline rushing through him, he mostly okay. Looking up, it was clear, Gooigi was responsible for the table, their plunger was still attached to it. They’d slammed it down on Bowser’s back so hard it had broken in two. There was no time to celebrate or to ascertain Junior’s  location or status, King Boo was already getting back up with an angry snarl. Before he could turn to confront Gooigi or snatch up Luigi again, Luigi, pleased to find it still worked, aimed his own plunger shot, hitting Bowser squarely on the face.</p>
<p>Careful not to step on the thick pieces of glass from Gooigi’s tank, Luigi rushed over to join them in toppling Kamek’s other table to be flung into King Boo. Assuming they all made it out of this alive, Bowser was probably going to be quite mad about all this but they didn’t exactly have many other options at this point.</p>
<p>King Boo got the plunger off his face just in time for Gooigi to whack him over the head with the table, breaking it in two and knocking him off balance once more. They were out of tables though and Luigi’s plunger shot wasn’t teleporting back in the Poltergust the way it was supposed to – King Boo’s slamming it into the wall had apparently broken more than just Gooigi’s tank, hopefully it could still suck up ghosts though – leaving them with little that could be done as King Boo pushed himself back up.</p>
<p>“<em>Fine</em>, I’ll destroy you first then,” he snarled, madder than ever before as he charged at Gooigi to slash them with Bowser’s claws. They pushed right through their body, doing little more than making him jiggle violently.</p>
<p>Luigi grabbed Gooigi’s arm, yanking them out of the way just in time to avoid the blast of fire that inevitably came next. He <em>couldn’t</em> let them be destroyed when their tank was in such a state lest it be permanent.</p>
<p>King Boo turned to face them again, already taking a deep breath for another blast of fire. With how small this room was and how much space Bowser took up in it, they couldn’t avoid him for long. Maybe if they could get around him to…</p>
<p>Something slammed into the side of Bowser’s face, forcing his mouth closed before a lick of fire could escape and knocking King Boo off balance again. It was Junior. “Get him Kamek,” he shrieked.</p>
<p>Luigi looked over to see that Kamek was in the room now too. He waved his glowing wand and suddenly all of them were outside somewhere, the full moon over head. “Sorry about this Lord Bowser sir,” he said as he waved his wand again, summoning a large thwomp above Bowser’s head.</p>
<p>Junior got out of the way just in time to avoid getting hit by it. King Boo tried but still off balance and seemingly having trouble regaining it, wasn’t fast enough. It hit his crown first of course, shattering it with a loud explosion of light and magic before knocking Bowser down.</p>
<p>It worked though. As Bowser fell beneath the thwomp, King Boo was visibly forced out of him, left to hover over him, stunned and crownless.</p>
<p>Gooigi made a wordless exclamation before rushing over, jolting Luigi into motion too. They had to capture King Boo <em>before</em> he recovered. His tongue lolled out his mouth, as boo tongues tended to do when they were stunned, giving them the perfect target to latch onto with their vacuums.</p>
<p>Coming to, he shrieked in anger and frustration as he tried to pull away. Thankfully they already had a firm hold on him though. Allowing them to yank back and slam him into the ground as hard as they possible could. Before he could even begin to recover from that, they yanked again, this time slamming him Bowser’s spiky shell.</p>
<p>Without a magic crown to amplify his magic and still not fully recovered from being forced out of Bowser’s body, it only took a few more hearty slams before he was defeated. His wail as he vanished into the Poltergust, though familiar now, was probably the most satisfying sound Luigi could’ve heard tonight.</p>
<p>As always, the whole Poltergust vibrated and shook. Oh no! After being slammed so hard into the wall so many times what if its containment unit was damaged? … Luigi held his breath, waiting for the worst as it stilled on his back. What would he even do if that was the case? Neither he nor E. Gadd had a spare Poltergust. Could Gooigi contain him long enough to lock him in the vault?</p>
<p>But… thankfully, it seemed okay for now. He probably shouldn’t push his luck though and hurry it to the vault to secure the capture. But first…</p>
<p>“Woohoo!” he shouted to the night sky, lifting his hands in victory and doing a little twirl before turning to Gooigi, holding a hand up for a high five.</p>
<p>“Woohoo!” they said as the gave him that high five.</p>
<p>Junior ran past them, rushing to his father’s side; Kamek hustled to keep up with him. Luigi couldn’t help but wince as he turned to look at Bowser too. The summoned thwomp was gone but he still lay face down on the ground, unmoving. It was too dark to see how badly he was injured without going closer but judging based off Junior’s small flinch upon reaching him, it wasn’t good but he was still alive and that was good enough.</p>
<p>Luigi didn’t want to interfere though and he needed to secure King Boo in the vault so he stepped back and looked around. Thankfully, they were outside the castle’s gates, E. Gadd’s lab was only a short jog away.</p>
<p>When he was about halfway to it, E. Gadd stepped out. “Did you win?” he asked when Luigi reached him a few seconds later. “Did you get him? Your signal dropped <em>entirely</em> when you were in the dungeon and then Kamek got summoned by Junior and then the signal finally came back a little while and now here you are. What happened? I must know.”</p>
<p>Eager to ensure King Boo’s capture, Luigi continued into the lab as he answered. “Yeah, we got him.” He went on to explain what happened while he attached the Poltergust’s nozzle to the ghost vault.</p>
<p>E. Gadd seemed to suck up the tale with glee. “Fascinating,” he said when Luigi was finished. “I wish I had been there to see it for myself. Ghosts possessing people is rather rare you know? I don’t think I’ve ever personally witnessed it from boo, I wasn’t even entirely sure they could.”</p>
<p>King Boo safely secured in the vault, Luigi let out a sigh of relief as he pulled the Poltergust’s nozzle back. He then carefully undid the straps, wincing a little as the aches and pains inflicted on him finally starting really setting in, before depositing it onto E. Gadd’s table. “What would happen to Gooigi if they got destroyed with it like this?” There was still some of the glass remaining, though not much, and the part responsible pulling and reforming Gooigi back into the tank was bent way out of line. Overall, the Poltergust was pretty battered in general, covered in dents and scraps. It still at least worked for sucking up ghosts though, a testament to E. Gadd’s handywork for sure.</p>
<p>“Oh… hmm.” E. Gadd frowned as he studied it. “I’m not sure but I believe they probably would’ve been destroyed for good.”</p>
<p>Luigi grimaced at the thought; with how dicey things had gotten there… It wasn’t worth considering. “I’ll tell them to be extra careful until you fix it.”</p>
<p>E. Gadd nodded as he pulled it off the table. “I’ll get right on that then in case there are any more ghosts left that need to be cleared up. There shouldn’t be with King Boo taken care of but it doesn’t hurt to be safe.”</p>
<p>Luigi sighed and gave him a thumbs up before exiting back outside. No longer fueled by adrenaline, everything hurt now and he could’ve easily lain down on the ground and taken a nap but he forced himself to half jog over to where Gooigi had chosen to remain with the others.</p>
<p>Kamek was tending to Bowser while Junior and Gooigi watched from a few steps away. They both turned to look at Luigi as he joined them.</p>
<p>“You be careful, okay?” he said, pointing to Gooigi. “E. Gadd said you might uh… be destroyed for good if you melt or take too much damage when your tank’s broken. So be super-duper careful, all right?”</p>
<p>“Okay,” Gooigi replied with a nod and a thumbs up. Hopefully they would listen, they had a tendency to be reckless since they could normally get away with it.</p>
<p>Next Luigi turned to Junior He at least didn’t look injured so that was good but… “You uh… okay?” Luigi asked anyway just in case.</p>
<p>Junior shrugged, glancing quickly at his father before looking back up to meet Luigi’s gaze. “Yeah, mostly I guess. Sorry I ran away when I did but I needed to summon Kamek because I… couldn’t think of any other way to help. And uh… it was the smart thing to do so I had to even though it meant I had to…”</p>
<p>“It’s fine,” Luigi interrupted. “You did the right thing.” That was the right kind of thing to say, right? “Summoning Kamek is what saved us so uh thanks for that.”</p>
<p>“Oh uh… um… thanks for saving my dad.” He looked like he was going to save more but Bowser finally came too with a loud grunt as he sat up. “Papa!” Junior said instead before rushing back over to him.</p>
<p>Gesturing Gooigi to follow, Luigi backed up a little ways to give them some privacy. And there was a rock not too far away he could sit on and get a little rest at least. Gooigi sat next to him. Were they tired too or just following Luigi’s lead? It was hard to say, they were unreadable. … Luigi should teach them how to play poker, they’d be good at it.</p>
<p>The two of them had been sitting there in silence for only a few minutes before Luigi looked up to see Bowser striding over to them with Junior at his side, Kamek following behind. Normally he was rather intimidating but after having saved him from King Boo possession of him and after babysitting his son for the past few hours as well as Luigi’s exhaustion, he didn’t seem so scary right now. So, leaning back up on his hands, Luigi didn’t even stand up as he reached them.</p>
<p>He had a bandage wrapped around his that was either dark by default or already soaked in blood, it was hard to tell. He also didn’t seem entirely steady on his feet. But he seemed to be ignoring all of that.</p>
<p>“Thanks for watching out for Junior,” were surprisingly the first words out of his mouth instead of anything nasty as Luigi had expected. His tone wasn’t even begrudging in the slightest either. “And thanks for rescuing me too or whatever.” Ah, there was the expected grumpiness “And Junior here says you’re going to save my other kids too?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, as soon as E. Gadd finishing fixing the Poltergust,” Luigi replied. And when they were done with that, hopefully finding the portraits containing the rest of the minions would be quick so this whole ‘adventure’ would be over soon.</p>
<p>“Good! I’m coming with you for that.” That was not at all surprising on multiple levels, not that Luigi would’ve tried to stop him anyway.</p>
<p>“Uh sir,” Kamek cut in, “you probably shouldn’t do that. I fear you may have a concussion. So until you’ve been seen by a healer I must insist you take it easy and don’t move around much.”</p>
<p>Bowser growled and turned to face him. Before he could say anything though, Junior spoke. “It’s okay Dad, you stay here, I’ll go with them.”</p>
<p>“Absolutely not.” Bowser turned to look down at him. “It’s too dangerous.” <em>Finally,</em> someone who agreed with Luigi.</p>
<p>“It is not. I was helping them hunt ghosts the whole night and I’m totally fine.”</p>
<p>“Yes, but…” the grimace on Bowser’s face confirmed that he’d been aware of and remembered what King Boo had down while possessing him, “you almost got hurt.”</p>
<p>“By King Boo. He’s taken care of now though and because of that there might not even be any ghosts left. If there are, they’ll be demoralized that their king is captured. <em>Also</em>, Luigi and Gooigi are professionals and have been keeping me safe the whole night like I said.”</p>
<p>“But…” Bowser tried to cut in, Junior wasn’t letting him though; he was good at that, huh?</p>
<p>“And I really want to be there when they’re saved. I’ve been really worried about them, especially Ludwig because he’s always been afraid of ghosts even if he won’t admit it. So you can stay here and rest while I handle the rest of it, okay?”</p>
<p>Apparently not even Bowser could argue with that as he let out a heavy sigh. “Fine, you can go but only because you handled the rest of this so well. And I’ll take it easy or <em>whatever</em>. But as soon as they’re safe, bring your brothers and sister to entrance hall, I’ll meet up with you there.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What King Boo’s intended surprise had been became clear as soon as they stepped into the room that housed the Koopalings’ portraits. It was a dead-end past where King Boo had been hiding himself. There were still a handful of boos down there too. The portraits were set in a ring in the middle of them. A very obvious trap, Polterpup deserves lots of pets and golden bones after this for warning them of it.</p>
<p>Taking out so many boos at once was a pain and all around awful but nothing too difficult especially when compared to handling Bowser possessed by King Boo. Once done with that, it was time to save the Koopalings and their recaptured boo allies. With three dark lights it didn’t take long before they were all free.</p>
<p>They were of course confused and had questions. Luigi let Junior answer most them and explain what happened as they all started back for the exit. He was too tired to explain it properly anyway.</p>
<p>He still had to find the rest of the minion portraits before he could even start heading home, let alone go to bed. Ugh, hopefully there weren’t many. E. Gadd would probably give him ride so maybe he could just spend the night at his lab to save E. Gadd from the stupid ‘o clock in the morning drive to Luigi’s place. He was pretty sure it was closer too than his home was too so he’d ask E. Gadd if that was all right with him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As promised, Bowser was indeed waiting in the entrance hall when they arrived. The shy guy examining was likely healer but he stood and pushed them aside seemingly as soon as he noticed Luigi and company entering the hall.</p>
<p>“Green Stache,” he said as he strode right up to Luigi before even going to his kids, “or uh… I mean Luigi. Go clear the rest of the ghosts out of my castle and free whatever minions are still trapped in the paintings. When you’re done, Kamek will show you and your goo friend to your guest rooms or room if you’d rather share one.”</p>
<p>“Oh uh… guest rooms? Really?” Luigi didn’t have enough energy to resent the command, especially since he’d been planning to do that anyway. But the casual assumption that he was going to spend whatever was left of the night here was surprising but… actually not bad.</p>
<p>Bowser was already turning away to leave but paused to look back at Luigi. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I provide you with guest rooms? What do you think I am? You saved my family and castle, I ain’t going to kick you out at whatever dang time of morning it is now.” With that he dismissed Luigi as he turned to face his family.</p>
<p>Holding back a yawn, Luigi turned away to resume his rescue task. The sooner it was done, the sooner he could go to sleep. He didn’t even care that it’d be in Bowser’s Castle. Also, Bowser had remembered his name, even corrected himself with it. After being forgotten so many times, that actually felt quite nice. He’d certainly earned Bowser’s remembrance and gratitude.</p>
<p>Tomorrow he was going to have a talk with E. Gadd about better, <em>surer</em> ways to contain King Boo. But that was a worry for tomorrow, for he was going to let himself bask in another victory and the fact that Bowser and his subordinates should at least finally remember his name from here on out.</p>
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